I really love listening to language--and McWhorter

Maybe this type of thing is just my cup of tea. I've listened to quite a few books about the development of language including the Great Courses one by John H. McWhorter. I have consistently found them fascinating and well done.

This is a short book, mostly McWhorter refuting the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis with some explanation of what that is and a bunch of explanation of why McWhorter doesn't agree with it (or, really, why he doesn't agree with the popular culture understanding of it).

Even though this book repeated some stuff I was already familiar with, it's well done and interesting. McWhorter is a joy to listen to. He's funny, easy to follow and talks bout interesting linguistics stuff.

However, if you're ready to dive in and enjoy, I'd start with the Great Courses' "The Story of Human Language" also by McWhorter--it's significantly longer and packed with information. I'm just going to sit her waiting for him to write more. Or maybe I'll re-listen to The Story of Human Language, too.

20 people found this helpful

A linguistic masterpiece

I loved this book from A to Z. This is a linguistic magnficient masterpiece. 👍

8 people found this helpful

Wonder Book

this is a wonderful book with lots of citation to help drive home the point that it's trying to make. The author has gone through a lot of painstaking work to portray his subject matter with his much care and due diligence as possible while still refuting the overarching claim flowing from it. his care and appreciation that he shows is a nice break from the standard yelling matches that seem to plague us. also since it is written and read by the same man there is a level of craftsmanship and naturalness to the reading of this book that was quite refreshing. I would recommend this book to almost anyone.

4 people found this helpful

An Entertaining Rant, I Think

I actually really enjoyed him tearing into Neo-Whorfianism. Probably more than I should have. An article about the Chen study literally popped up on my twitter feed the day before I listened to the chapter that talked about it. I'll be citing this book for my responses. I really like his lecture style and have several other audio books as well. My favorite are his Great Courses lectures, but I feel that this one is also a good resource.

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Excellent work

Great manifesto, intellectually sharp and very entertaining. Recommended for any "language head" who has ever wondered about the influence language itself has on human thought or culture.

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good, but not the usual

I have listened to a lot of Mcwhorter's work. This is just as thoroughly researched and accessibly explanatory as any of his offerings. It's obvious, however, that this one is different. It lacks the lightness and silliness he brings to most of his teaching. I still enjoyed it. I still learned a lot. But it lacked the essence of humor I have grown to expect from him.

1 person found this helpful

Short and sweet

I just finished “The Language Hoax” by John McWhorter. It’s short and sweet (5.5 hour listen on Audible). His thesis is that spoken language does not impact thinking or cultural values in a meaningful way, and despite the wide variety of grammars and vocabularies across cultures, the thought that gets encoded is the same. Popular conceptions like some cultures are more likely to prepare for the future based off of the presence or a sense of future tenses, or that some cultures are more likely to be skeptical because of the presence or absence of epistemological grammar are his targets. To make his case, he draws from a wide variety of languages which often have entertaining and unexpected quirks. The wide survey across a very broad spectrum of languages alone makes it worth the price of admission. The author is a professional linguist and as such, the quality of the prose is reflected in the book. The author is very gracious towards his opponents. Nonetheless, self-styled sophisticates who see too many patterns in noise, who congratulate themselves because of a surface level knowledge of other cultures or languages, and who fail to see their own hypocrisy in ivory-tower xenocentrism get taken down a notch. The book is concise, cogent, easy to digest, and sociologically relevant. As other reviews have noticed, this book is better listened to than read so you can savor the author’s enunciation of obscure languages a casual reader would have no chance of pronouncing correctly.

1 person found this helpful

Excellent!

McWhorter, as usual, delivers his lines with both humourous and sharp wit. Great read both for aspiring fellow linguists aswell as non linguists with a passing interest about psychology or language. Can warmly recommend this book!

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A magnificent work

Professor McWhorter is brilliant in his evaluation of the Whorf Sapir hypotheses that language shapes human thought within the culture in which each individual is a part. I just miss his performance at the Great Courses where he is totally oral, chaotic and wonderful. But here we have a book and the formality of a book. Yet he not only recites his own book. The manifesto, as he calls himself, has his personal charm. I recommend and much everything he writes and even more his courses.

1 person found this helpful

the narrator is worth the price of admission

the author and narrator (one and the same) is a treasure and this work can easily be enjoyed by a layperson (like me)